Match Report  |  Sutton Coldfield Town vs Gresley Rovers

Sutton Coldfield Town must have thought that Christmas had come early as their visitors gifted arguably six of their seven goals.

It all started so well for Rovers with Richard Hanslow heading a cross from the left narrowly over the bar with just a minute on the clock, but the home side took the lead with their first serious attack on Rovers’ goal when Rhys Hilton stoked the ball home unchallenged on 10 minutes.

Three minutes later they had doubled their advantage when Cameron Collins accepted the chance smashing a rebound into the net after Harvey Woodward had only half parried a cross from the right into his path.

Sutton almost added a third as Rovers’ leaky defence allowed the impressive Rhys Hilton the freedom of the pitch to latch onto a long ball through the back line but his final shot was straight at Woodward.

On 21 minutes Rovers were back in the game. A long ball split the home defence and Kan Lee ran onto it and continued his run before firing past the oncoming Royals keeper Jono Brown. Rovers seemed to go up a gear with John King hitting a powerful shot from distance that Brown did well to tip over the bar.

If Rovers’ travelling faithful thought their side were turning the corner, they were to be sadly disappointed as once more the gift of a goal was handed to their hosts. Rovers had just had a warning as Alex McSkeane flashed a shot across the face of an open goal but he made no mistake on 34 minutes when he latched onto a rebound which Woodward had only half blocked firing back into the net.

In the opening minutes of the second half Martin Smyth saw his free kick go just over but that was the last of any decent chances Rovers created.

Rovers made their first change of the game when Nathan Banton replaced the quiet Hanslow but it did not remedy the problem as the visitors handed goal number four on 60 minutes. A woefully short back pass to Woodward saw Cameron Collins nip in and take the ball before hitting the back of Woodward’s empty goal for his second of the game.

Another change for Rovers with Riley Davoile replacing Smyth again did nothing to stem the tide as six minutes later goal number five arrived with the Rovers back line opening like the Red Sea for Moses and Pedro Santos Lima accepting the invitation to hammer home his goal - it was so easy.

More salt was rubbed into the already gaping Rovers’ wound with two more goals coming in the final fifteen minutes or so as the visitors continued to hand out the gifts. A low shot from Ryan Edmonds claimed goal number six and on 83 minutes Royals substitute Cameron Philip, on the field for just sixty seconds, easily scored goal number seven completing an absolute December drubbing on a bitterly cold afternoon.